The technology that would enable us to 3D-print electronics along with the circuits that make them work has been around for a while, but a team of Harvard researchers just announced a new 3D-printer that could change the game. Soon, you could 3D print a drone in your living room—which is insane. »1/05/15 4:00pm 1/05/15 4:00pm

Everyone's skipped the occasional class here and there, but clearly Harvard University is taking it seriously. It's started tracking the attendance of its students using secret cameras—and it didn't tell them it was doing so. »11/10/14 4:30am 11/10/14 4:30am

Robots are often imagined as hard, shiny things, gleaming futuristic machines. They often are hard, shiny things. But sometimes they're softer than a baby butt and more flexible than an Illinois governor's morals. Soft robotics is a growing field devoted to the squishier side of automated technology, and with the… »9/23/14 2:30pm 9/23/14 2:30pm

Since the first crude automatons running on clockwork mechanisms, mankind has been working to build the perfect artificial copy of ourselves for centuries. But what's a more accurate recreation of a human? A robot made of various components and wires all cobbled together? Or one made of billions of tiny robots all… »8/14/14 4:17pm 8/14/14 4:17pm

The intricate folds of origami are infinitely useful across science, from designing safer airbags to building more resilient architecture. Here, though, the same principles are being applied to a self-assembling robot that uses a tiny microcontroller to transform itself from 2D to 3D, then walks away. »8/07/14 3:18pm 8/07/14 3:18pm

Google Street View is an excellent way to watch your neighborhood change. In fact, we've conducted our own informal surveys of urban transformation in Detroit, San Francisco, and Brooklyn. While our investigations were based on casual observation, now a pair of sociologists from Harvard are using Google Street View…»8/06/14 11:00am 8/06/14 11:00am

Just when you thought that mankind's genius could stretch no further, a solid year of research has given birth to a new apex in cake innovation. Friends, say hello to Spray Cake, the Harvard-bred cake batter in a can. »7/18/14 11:49am 7/18/14 11:49am

With countless wires protruding from the side, as a lamp, this creation from researchers at Harvard is a disappointment at best. But as a demonstration of future technologies that promise to revolutionize manufacturing—like printable, self-assembling electronics—it's about as awesome as tech demos can get. »6/04/14 12:26pm 6/04/14 12:26pm

Navigating a new campus is all part of the nostalgic movie montage that is freshman year of college. The changing leaves! The quaint Gothic architecture! The... drone tour guide? That’s the concept behind Skycall, a playful prototype that's designed to help visiting Harvard students find their way around MIT’s… »9/11/13 5:20pm 9/11/13 5:20pm

Tony Stark used exotic composites, metal alloys, and other Hollywood-only make-believe materials to build his armor-plated Iron Man suit. But researchers at Harvard University's Wyss Institute, constrained by the limitations of reality, took a different approach with a muscle-enhancing exoskeleton that could one day… »6/25/13 5:23pm 6/25/13 5:23pm

Blood poisoning is the number one cause of death among critical care patients in the US, killing more than 200,000 people annually. However, a radical new treatment option could transform the way we treat sepsis and save thousands of lives every year. »3/29/13 11:30am 3/29/13 11:30am

For years we all assumed that robots and artificial creatures had to be made of metal and other rigid materials. But there's now a movement to create soft, squishy bots that use unorthodox power sources like compressed air, and, believe it or not, literal explosions. »2/07/13 4:00pm 2/07/13 4:00pm

Harvard researchers have spent the past five years developing a robotic bee, and while it may never serve as a backup for whatever's wiping out colonies across the country, it could serve as an inconspicuous alternative to spy drones. Particularly now that they've figured out how to steer the tiny winged bots during… »10/09/12 10:24am 10/09/12 10:24am